Why can't I see ALL the search results for the item I'm looking for?

[elysiafionn]

I have just received a message flag while trying to shop for something on ebay.  "We are unable to show you more than 10,000 results.  Please narrow your search perameters."  Sorry, what?

This is the issue.  I am looking for a very particular vintage bowl, for a collection that I am curating.  The bowl, the way * I * would describe it, would be "vintage soup bowl white with yellow and black wavy stripes".  The problem is, someone in Dubuque might have the exact bowl that I'm looking for, but when they list it, they describe it as "vintage soup bowl".  So my "yellow and black wavy stripes" in the search bar will basically insure that I will never find this bowl, because the seller did not use those words in their auction title.

So - I search for "vintage soup bowl" instead.  There are 64,000 search results.  But ebay will only let me see 10,000?  **bleep**, ebay?  As a long time ebay customer and seller, why do I not have the right to see ALL the results of my search?  I have been looking for this blasted bowl since 2012, mind you.  And now I know why I haven't found it yet.  Because ebay is only showing me one sixth of the vintage bowls that are for sale. 

HOW is this even good business?  Why would a website hogtie its sales by preventing people from seeing 5/6 of the stuff that's for sale?  This is ridiculous.  Seriously.

I ran out of available results at page 54.  So I thought well, okay, I will close ebay, reopen it, do the search, and then skip ahead seven pages at a time to get past page 54.  In other words, I was not "looking" at all the pages in between.  Nope, it still stopped me at page 54.  Even though ebay had not "shown" me the results on the pages I skipped.

Sellers are paying to post items that may never, ever be seen by buyers.  How is this even legal?  So I'm supposed to be psychic and know exactly how some seller I've never met is going to describe the item I'm looking for?  Preposterous.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @elysiafionn 

>>  Again - that only works if the seller has used those exact words to list the item.   <<

That's not correct.   Check out 'Keyword option' in Advanced search ... and you'll see that you can choose 'Any words, any order' if you're concerned that your words may not match the seller's exactly.  You have more options than you realize.

[BTW, yours is the first post I've seen saying that eBay's search is limited to 'too few' results.  ALL of the complaints I've seen were about eBay providing 'too many' results.]

[julyr56]

Long story short I was just thinking the exact same thing - what's worse is let's say you organize your search parameters by price....they might only show you the more expensive items in the search and then when you  sell at those same high prices - what if they don't display yours?!?! My traffic levels took a nose dive during the last 6 weeks....I'm concerned to say the least and distrusting based on what's trending. I want to do a good job but it's like they're blind folding us on that frequency and others too! 

[janet9988]

Ebay policy, in the user agreement, states that your items may not show......

• We strive to create a marketplace where buyers find what they are looking for. Therefore, the appearance or placement of listings in search and browse results will depend on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
  • buyer's location, search query, browsing site, and history;
  • item's location, listing format, price and shipping cost, terms of service, end time, history, and relevance to the user query;
  • seller's history, including listing practices, Detailed Seller Ratings, eBay policy compliance, feedback, and defect rate; and
  • number of listings matching the buyer's query,
• To drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer,

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.